In 2000, a former U.S. Army sergeant pleaded guilty to joining in a terrorist plot against the United States, linking Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden to the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 2004, Margaret Hassan, chief of operations for the British CARE charity, was kidnapped on her way to work in Iraq by unknown armed militants. CARE suspended its work in Iraq soon after.

Also in 2004, retired Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was sworn in as Indonesia's sixth president after winning the country's first direct elections for head of state.

In 2005, former U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was jailed in Houston after his indictment on conspiracy and money laundering charges.

Also in 2005, Pakistan set the official death toll of the Oct. 8 quake at 47,000 but various aid officials claim it was closer to 80,000. Three million people were reported without shelter.

In 2009, Afghan election officials ruled President Hamid Karzai had won 49.7 percent of the vote in his bid for another term, just less than the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

Also in 2009, 57 percent of respondents to an ABC-Washington Post poll voiced support for a public option in the healthcare reform debate, one of its most contentious features.

In 2010, more than 1 million ballots in the Afghan parliamentary election were disqualified for fraud, electoral officials said two days after the vote.

Also in 2010, the U.S. Defense Department said homosexuals can openly enlist in the armed forces after a judge struck down the "don't ask, don't tell" law but warned a government appeal could change the situation again.

A thought for the day: American Red Cross founder Clara Barton said, "The surest test of discipline is its absence."

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